Positive pressure ventilation (PPV) provides lifesaving breath support to newborns via a face mask. After birth, approximately 10 million newborns will receive PPV with a face mask every year. As a result, clinicians and hospital workers must be prepared to perform PPV if the infant shows signs of difficulty breathing. PPV requires a careful balance of applied force when holding the face mask against a newborn’s face, as the clinician must provide enough pressure to form a tight seal without delivering too much pressure that could injure the newborn. Currently, there is no standardized tool or quantitative technology to assist in training clinical staff on applying the proper amount of pressure to achieve effective ventilation. In this talk, we discuss current PPV training and administration methods, describe the initial design and testing of a sensor system to monitor applied pressures at key locations on a newborn’s face, and discuss preliminary results from using this sensor system to test the effects of face mask type, ventilation device type, and expertise level on applied pressures.

Jacqueline Hannan is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan in the Industrial and Operations Engineering department. She is studying as a NIOSH trainee and is advised by Prof. Leia Stirling. Prior to attending graduate school, Jacqueline earned her Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering with a minor in human factors from University at Buffalo. Jacqueline’s research interests lie at the intersection of human factors and healthcare. She is interested in applying concepts of ergonomics and human performance to understand and improve current practices in the medical field.

The seminar series “Providing Better Healthcare through Systems Engineering” is presented by the U-M Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety (CHEPS): Our mission is to improve the safety and quality of healthcare delivery through a multidisciplinary, systems engineering approach.

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